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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29180718">It's Quiet Upstairs</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/jordanparker/pseuds/jordanparker'>jordanparker</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Letters and Regret [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Character Death, Cheating, M/M, Prequel, Song: It's Quiet Uptown, Songfic, Starker Hamilton AU, Swearing, Unrequited Love</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 13:08:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,158</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29180718</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/jordanparker/pseuds/jordanparker</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Eventually, Peter calms down enough to let out a quiet, “Where’s Tony, Nat?” His sister is silent, giving him all he needs to know. “Ah, he’s with her isn’t he?”</p><p>Or, FRIDAY reads a mission report and Peter breaks down.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Peter Parker and Harley Keener - Relationship, Peter Parker/Tony Stark, mentioned Peter Parker/Wade Wilson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Letters and Regret [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2138724</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>58</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>It's Quiet Upstairs</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I posted this on Tumblr, so don't worry if you see it here at my blog, https://jordanparker.tumblr.com/</p><p>Also this is the prequel to Congratulations, meaning this is before the events that take place in Congratulations. Just wanted to clarify 😉🤍</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Mr Parker,” FRIDAY says, making Peter glance up from his book and up to the ceiling where her motion sensors were. “You have a message. Would you like to listen to it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Peter smiles softly before letting out a snort of amusement, turning to his book again. “It’s from Wade, I’ll listen to it later-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not,” This time FRIDAY’s voice seems to have saddened a bit, but Peter doesn’t catch on. “It’s from the mission report from this morning.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Will you read it to me Fri?” Peter asks anxiously, sitting up from where he was laying on the bed and setting the book down. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“On Thursday the twenty seventh, Harley Parker was shot down by enemy troops as he was trying to help prisoners escape the base that the Avengers were raiding. The team was unable to get to him in time, which resulted in his death-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Peter was frozen, eyes glassy as FRIDAY continued to rattle off the report that someone had written. He faintly heard a door crash open and muffled yelling before someone’s arms wrapped around him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shhh, Peter it’s gonna be okay, you’re gonna be okay.” Natasha murmurs, stroking his hair gently, trying to coax her to take deep breaths. “Copy my breathing. You're gonna be okay. It’s going to be fine. Try to copy my breathing baby.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eventually, Peter calms down enough to let out a quiet, “Where’s Tony, Nat?” His sister is silent, giving him all he needs to know. “Ah, he’s with her isn’t he?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Natasha gives her teary eyed brother a shaky nod, staring blankly at the white walls, just hugging Peter harder as his body shakes in after-shock. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Peter lets out a heart-breaking sob and hugs the red-head back, tucking his head into the crook of her neck. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I… I can’t take this anymore! First it was missing Morgan’s award show for her presentation, then it was ignoring my calls after Miles was shot during his patrols and now this?” Peter gasps out, tears streaming down his face and landing on Natasha’s shirt, but it seemed like she didn’t mind. “I guess the death of your son just makes you sad enough to cheat on your husband. Again,” He adds, red-faced and sniffling harshly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Natasha breaks out of her daze enough to give him a look. “No. None of this is your fault okay? You knew that the mission would be too difficult, but Tony pushed for Harley to go. He was the one who said he was ready. Even Harley was scared. It. Was. Not. Your. Fault. Peter.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But I should’ve pushed back harder, been the father that Harley needed and told him that it was okay to say no to Tony. I… I should’ve done more, I-” Peter cuts himself off as a sob bubbled up his throat. “Was I… was I not good enough? Is our marriage not enough for him?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Natasha holds Peter as he cries himself tired, seconds turned to minutes which turned to hours. Peter had fallen asleep already, feeling worn out and exhausted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And Tony was still nowhere to be found. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Although other Avengers had come up to see if Peter was okay, no one had spoken. The tower was quiet and if Natasha guesses that if she looks outside, she would see that the world was a bit darker; sadder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was around eight at night when FRIDAY spoke up. “Mr Parker has six unread messages and three missed calls.” Natasha smiles sadly, stroking Peter’s hair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can you play them FRI?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Certainly Ms Romanoff.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was a still night as a young man made his way down gravel paths; dodging headstones and new or wilted batches of roses left for loved ones.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s clutching his own flower, a single white rose gripped tightly in his fist. It took a couple of minutes, but eventually he made it to his destination.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harley Parker’s headstone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The engravings shined silver under the moonlight that read, ‘Loving brother and son’. The man carefully set down the white rose on top of the headstone before he collapsed in front of it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey Little Rose.” Peter says, voice cracking. “I-... I miss you Harley. And so do Morgan and Miles. We all miss you. Um, I know I was here yesterday, but I just wanted to let you know that I love you. I miss you a lot. It's been really hard these past three months. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s been really quiet at home without you. It’s quiet upstairs.” He adds in a joking manner.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was silence before the young man broke into sobs, his body shaking with the intensity of his grief.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry baby, I’m so sorry.” Peter cries, on his knees and the heels of his hands digging into his eyes. “I’m sorry that I didn’t stop him. I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to keep you home. I’m sorry that you had to see- and.. and hear all the fights. I’m sorry you were there when he brought her home. I’m sorry that you heard. I.. I’m sorry for everything.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At that point everything was a blur to Peter, but before he knew it, three hours had passed and Peter had started to babble about meaningless things.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Anyways that’s how I somehow adopted a duck.” Peter finishes, sending a grin to the stone as if someone was there listening and smiling back. “I just wanna say thank you Harley. You are a wonderful and amazing son. You will always be my son.” He says proudly, getting up and stretching; his joints stiff.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Before I go,” Peter starts quietly, looking around the cemetery to avoid looking at Harley’s. “I don’t think me and Tony will last any longer. He’s clearly been avoiding me, and Nat found a box hidden in a closet that she wants me to look over. But that’s for tomorrow. I just want to ask you if you’d be okay with… with Wade? I know you’re probably not here right now, but maybe just give me a sign Little Rose.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was quiet for a second and Peter stood alone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then he heard it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A crow crooned loudly, but to Peter it sounded familiar. It sounded like the loud laughs that used to rattle around the penthouse whenever Tony used to burn another night’s dinner. It sounded like Harley.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Peter let out a wet chuckle, shaking his head in disbelief. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you my Little Rose. I’ll be back tomorrow night.” Peter vows, giving a determined nod towards the headstone before making his way out of the cemetery.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And there standing a top of the headstone is Harley, his faded ghost of a body watching his father leave. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There is no forgiveness for him. You are going through the unimaginable.” Harley whispers, watching his only father leave his resting place with a soft smile. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A crow croons again and Harley turns to look over at it. “I never liked the quiet before.”</span>
</p>
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